Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has admitted in secret evidence to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog that he was aware of widespread branch stacking within the Labor Party “across the board”, a two-year investigation released on Wednesday reveals.
The Premier also admitted in his secret testimony that he was aware of the scheme to use electorate staffers in the 2014 election campaign – known as the red shirts rort – which the Victorian Ombudsman later found resulted in the misuse of $388,000 in taxpayer funds.
The bombshell report, delivered just four months out from the November state election, puts pressure on Mr Andrews to adopt 21 recommendations in the report to quickly tackle “ongoing corruption risks” in the government and state parliament. “He was aware of such allegations through talk within the party, reviews, rule changes and from the time when he worked at ALP head office,” the report reveals.“He made the distinction between having suspicions about people who might be engaging in the practice and having actual knowledge of specific people who engaged in such practices.”
“The unethical culture that was such a feature of this investigation, whether as an explanation or excuse for bad conduct, lies at its heart.”Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass said her ‘Red Shirts’ report in 2018 highlighted the need for reform and this report highlighted how little had changed.
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